Sadly we missed our intended train because we were all playing Titanfall and got a bit carried away, but we still arrived just in time for lunch. And lunch, of course, was at the girls’ favourite London restaurant (because it’s one of the few they know) San Miguel on Greenwich Church Street. They’d been there with the Lovely Melanie just 48 hours earlier, when they came to see the brilliant Signor Baffo at the theatre in Greenwich; but despite the amazing choice of restaurants in Greenwich decided that San Miguel was the only possible choice.

The waiter even recognised them! They are officially “regulars”!

After lunch (I recommend the calamari), we joined the Cutty Sark queue inside the entrance – not realising the queue began outside and you had to queue outside to join the queue inside!

As an Englishman with a genetic-level respect for queuing and proper queue etiquette, I was mortified when this was pointed out to me, and hung my head in shame in the outside queue. 😦

Despite this embarrassing social gaffe, the Cutty Sark was really rather good. It’s not a terribly old ship (nothing like as old as, say, HMS Victory or the Mary Rose) but looks very impressive – an immense shape simply floating in the air above you, and is fascinating to explore, too. It’s all very well done for adults and children.

It being the Easter Holidays (still!) there were arts and crafts activities going on beneath this 963 tonnes of wood and iron, so while the girls made kites and windmills I stared up at this floating mass (963 tonnes of wood and iron!!) wondering what on earth was holding it up. I asked Amber at one point, she shrugged and replied “string?”

The only small downer on the day (queuing mistake aside) were Millie’s endless requests to go to the bloody gift shop. Every two minutes, “Can we go to the gift shop? When can we go to the gift shop? Are we going to the gift shop now?”

I can count the number of times I’ve actually told my children to “shut up” on the fingers of one hand, but this added another finger to the count. 😦

We got home, exhausted, but just in time for tea and had hot cross buns for tea. Yum.

And Millie, inspired by the Cutty Sark and the ship in a bottle from the gift shop, has been inspired to write a story on her blog called The Ship In A Bottle.

We all inhabit a house on the edge of London, and I make a living as a copywriter in the centre of town.

It's been a turbulent few years - tragedy struck early in 2011 when my younger brother died very suddenly and unexpectedly. We're still recovering from that.
My dad had a heart transplant in 2008. He's still alive and doing very well indeed.